Batgirl Year Two
by GungaDin
Summary: Takes place immediately after Batgirl Year One. Action packed! Tons of Guest Stars! Final chapter added! Story completed! W00t to completion! More action packed than ever... Actually no, but there's still action!
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Batman... He was created by Bob Kane. I don't own Batgirl or Robin neither... I just write about them in this story inspired by Batgirl Year One...

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**Chapter 1  
Sparring**

"_There is what life could be… and there is the life I lead now_."

Barbara reflected on her last statement with a certain degree of disgust. It was cheesy. Not her style. Couldn't she write a year of memoirs without embellishing the last detail? Babs rubbed her eyes and took another look at the computer screen.

It had taken her most of the night, which she had because Batman had given her the night off, but she had finally finished chronicling the past year's events in something she affectionately dubbed "Batgirl: Year One".

She had only an inkling of an idea why Batman had given her the night off, but she suspected that he had what he would consider a good reason for it. He was probably going against one of the "big-time super villains" like Mr. Freeze, Two-Face, or maybe even The Joker. But what did he have to fear? Hadn't she proved herself in front of Killer Moth AND Firefly? What more did she have to do in order for them to consider her good enough to fight one of the "big time super villains?"

Her father had approved of the new Batgirl for six weeks. Dick had taken a hit for the team when he dressed up in her costume with a red wig and stood next to Batman on that rooftop. Batman made sure her father would accept it too. Batman timed it so that Dick and he would jump off of the rooftop seconds before Babs (listening in to the exchange) emerged onto the rooftop, quelling all of her father's suspicions that Babs really was Batgirl by perfect timing. True, it was a trick, but this way her father wasn't suspect towards Babs's shady actions and Batgirl had the Commissioner's blessing to patrol the streets at night under Batman's supervision. It seemed like ages ago, though. Wasn't her father, Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department, enough reason to elevate her to the "big-time super villain" level?

She rolled her eyes as she pushed back the thin red hair, which had begun to overtake her face in the frustrating hours upon hours of writing through her night off. She saved, closed the window on the computer screen, and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes again. Gray tinged the sky in the world outside her window. She sighed. Maybe she could steal a few hours sleep before heading to the library for another boring day at the office.

She stood up from her computer, still apprehensive about the last sentence until, with a final, agitated sigh, she figured it was all for the best. She would never read it again, and that part about her kiss with Dick would sound even mushier with that last line. A laugh escaped from her mouth. This was so stupid. It was just the last line of a stupid journal she remembered perfectly. She chuckled as she realized that she couldn't even write a decent ending to her own life's story and she had managed to take this simple cliché and sully her thoughts on the piece as a whole.

She flopped on the bed and smiled. Although perturbed over the fact that Batman still didn't truly trust her, she still had his approval and that was enough for now.

At least that was what she was thinking as she smashed her fist gracefully into the punching bag the next day. While the Batcave did have the most up-to-date equipment in the world, the punching bag was still her favorite. Although she wasn't strong enough to punch it off the chain from which it dangled like Dick or Batman could, she could hit it fast. When she sparred with Dick, she could pull off her punches faster than he could, but his punches hurt a lot more than hers probably did.

The sweat dripped off of her brow as she stopped and held out her hands to stop the back, checking her watch. Twelve minutes. Dick said that his record was twenty-eight.

Frustrated over the fact that she still wasn't as good as the other guys, she gave the punching bag a final, spinning kick, which, to her surprise, broke it off the chain. She smiled in triumph, that is, until she realized that it had continued rolling and was only three feet from rolling off of the Batcave's ledge into a blackened oblivion.

"No!" she shouted to herself as she ran to get the bag. She stopped it a mere inch before it would have toppled over the edge grabbing the heavy bag by the rough chain, feeling it press rivets and grooves into her hands.

A voice chuckled behind her as she lifted the bag with both hands, leaning back to keep her both for balance and leverage. She lifted the bag up over the leg and set it against the wall and saw Dick sitting in the chair in front of the computer, clapping mockingly slow.

"Now, _that _was funny," he jumped out of the chair, sending it spinning around and walked towards her. "He could have replaced that, you know."

"Yeah, but it would have been embarrassing," she blushed.

"What's to be embarrassed over? It was the first time you broke the chain. I remember my first time. Bag actually flew _over _that ledge in fear instead of rolling off as though it was vaguely forced to go over."

Great, just what she needed, more of his showing off and bragging.

"Prove it," she challenged. "Let's go. You and me. Right here. Right now."

Dick yawned and arrogantly checked his fingernails for excess dirt. "Nah, I'm saving my strength for the patrol tonight."

"Chicken."

He sprang towards her, flipping onto his hands and pushing himself forward into a blind kick with both of his feet towards her face. She dodged. Through watching him, she had learned how to read him to the point where she realized that he was actually predictable with his first move. He landed on his feet and turned to face her.

"Impressive," he mocked, eyebrows raised, as though he had really expected his trick to work.

"I try," she smiled innocently.

He lunged towards her again, this time running full speed. He threw his hand out towards her. She dodged left, pushing his arm to one side with her left palm and knocking him off balance. She kicked him in the side.

She only glimpsed his lack of balance for a second before he gracefully turned this disadvantage into a cartwheel and landed on his feet in a fighting stance, his left arm held straight out, his right blocking. He beckoned her with his left hand.

She jumped into the air, did a double front handspring, but, just before reaching him, jumped to the side, aimed her arm at his shoulder, and, still suspended in mid-air, thrust it, palm flat at his shoulder. In a real fight, this would be meant to stun him, but in this case would do no more than catch him by surprise. Batman did condition him, after all.

This, however, didn't work nearly as well as she had expected it to. Even though she had been specifically practicing this specific move in her gym for several days for this specific purpose, he ducked, grabbed her arm, and flipped her over his back and onto the mat, where she landed with a dull thunk.

"Ow," Babs cringed, wincing in the dull pain of mat-on-back. "How did you see that coming?"

Dick kneeled down to her level and stared at her as though she were a strange, never-before-seen bird and cocked his head to one side. "Years of practice and improvisation. That was a pretty neat trick, though. How long have you been practicing that one?"

"I didn't," she teased, lying through her teeth. "It was done through purely improvisation. Again?"

"Haven't you had enough?"

"Hey, last time I checked, you were losing."

"Last time I checked, you lost," he smiled.

"Oh, come on. You got lucky."

"Fine," he rolled his eyes indiscreetly. He stood up and offered her his hand.

She declined the offer by springing onto her hands and pushing herself to her feet. Instead of standing straight upwards as fast as she could, however, she leaned backwards, narrowly dodging his fist that would have made contact with her stomach. She grabbed his hand and flipped him up and over her. In true acrobatic fashion, he pushed off of his hand and into a handspring, landing flat on his feet. She jumped up, rather annoyed at his many years of circus training him. It was near impossible to floor him, but that's what made it fun. _Near_ impossible.

She ran towards him, arm charged back for a full blow. He put his hands up for a block, but instantly realized this prepared hand was a ploy as she slide tackled between his legs, sweeping them with her hands as she flew past. His legs collapsed underneath him as he fell to the mat flat on his stomach.

She didn't get up from the ground, waiting for him as he groaned and rolled himself over to face her.

"I think I win that one," she said, as she rested her head on her arched fingers and fluttered her eyes.

"Fine," he responded bitterly. "But you cheated. You can't sweep my feet out with your hands."

"I can, and I did," she fluttered her eyes again. "Are you just bitter that you got owned by a girl?" Her tone dropped to one of complete innocence, pretending to not know her statement would seriously wound his pride.

"Best two out of three!" he challenged, jumping to his feet.

This time it was her turn to roll her eyes. "If you insist…"

She stood up slowly, tauntingly. He hated this. He had to. The fact that she could get under his skin like this changed the game and put her in control. It made the third of their matches the most interesting. All the anger and rage of the first two degenerated into a senseless, flirtatious, final, winner-take-all sparring round.

"Bring it, Pixie Boots," she taunted, careful to over enunciate his degrading nickname.

He gritted his teeth. "You're toast."

They ran towards each other. For each strike he attempted, she deflected and returned with a signature lightning punch of her own. Only the sound of their hits reverberated around the cave. She grabbed his hand and did another back handspring, flinging him to the mat. He flipped himself into a one-handed cartwheel and twisted to one side, throwing three ninja stars at her. She jumped into a horizontal airborne roll, barely dodging all three.

"Hey!" she yelled. "No fair."

"Isn't all fair in love and war?"

She charged at him, dodging more stars as he flung them at her. She threw forward her left hand with all her strength, but he easily blocked it and pushed it to one side. The moves became such a flurry that she could barely keep up, even with her special gift for speed. Finally, she found an opening, slapped both of her wrists together and flung open palms into his chest, sending him to land, sprawled on his back on the ground. She put her bare foot over his throat.

"Yield."

"Are you kidding? I was winning."

"Yeah, with a bunch of ninja stars and a few lucky shots, and you still lost."

"Fair enough," he retorted, feigning defeat. "Hand up?"

She offered him her hand. Before she knew it, he pulled her down on top of him and his lips met with hers.

She melted. She closed her eyes and gave into the temptation that had been bubbling in on her since he twirled around in Batman's chair. Through all the sparring, through all the taunting, through all the flirting, she had hoped it would come to this. She would never admit it to him though. The last thing she wanted was to have to beat a potential boyfriend at sparring on a regular basis. She laughed mentally, careful not to laugh in the middle of their kiss. That would just be… embarrassing.

She pulled away slowly.

"I thought you'd like that," he smirked.

"I- I-" she faltered, realizing she was looking into his eyes too deeply. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"But I do know, that's what makes it so fun," he smiled at her.

She huffed in denial of defeat, looking away from him. "Whatever you say, lover boy."

She almost wished he would pull her back in for another, but he had the innate ability to keep Babs wanting more. True, they hadn't kissed since that mission way back months ago when they went into the subway against… Who did they fight again? The only thing that really took precedence from that night was the kiss. Wow. She had actually forgotten who they faced that night. She blamed it on his kissing; it wasn't her fault he was such an amazing kisser.

She walked to the towel where one of her spare costumes hung on the rack. The contented smile still played across her face even as she mopped the sweat off of it. Of course, it was one of those things she would never tell him. If he could play hard to get, so could she.

"So what does Bats have on the agenda for tonight?" she asked him from across the cave.

"We're putting you out on the street tonight," Batman's voice echoed across the cavernous headquarters.

She whirled around to see him swivel around in the chair in front of the computer. How did he get there without her noticing? Oh right, she was too busy making out with Dick. Oh no. What if he saw them kissing? What would he do? How embarrassing would that be?

"You're flying solo tonight. I've got an assignment for you," Batman continued.

"Yeah?" she inquired. She picked her suit up off of the wall. "What's on the bat-radar for tonight? Convenience store robbery? Bank hold-up? Cat in the tree?" These trivial errands were starting to get tiresome.

"Robbery," Batman replied. "Clue left at the scene. I thought this would be a good task for you to start off on."

"Goodie," she rolled her eyes. Of course it had to be another robbery. _Yet another slow night, so let's give the easy assignment to the new girl_. She clicked the utility belt around her freshly washed costume, swishing her short blue and yellow cape, hoping Dick would see so that she could still tease him.

"We're going to test out your detective skills on this one," he moved over and pulled a piece of bat-paper off of the bat-printer. Heh. Sometimes she cracked herself up.

How peculiar though. He'd never wanted to test her detective skills before. As she pulled the cowl over her head, he handed her a piece of paper on which was written the puzzle:

Many rocks have we  
Long have we remained in our place  
Those we guard do not move  
And those who visit get naught but grim news

Her eyes widened. "The Riddler?" She muttered.

"The Riddler?!" exclaimed Dick dubiously from the other side of the cave. He moved over to read the clue.

She ignored him. "Where do I start?" she inquired, trying to hide her excitement.

"We don't know if it is the Riddler, but whoever it was hit the Toy Shipping Warehouse at the 42nd Street wharf earlier this evening. Determine whether of not it's a copycat, like the Cluemaster. Then, decipher the clue, track him down, and bring him in."

It took all of Babs' resolve to not jump into the air and shout for joy. "I'll do my best."

She jogged over to the nearest Bat-Cycle and jumped on, sliding on her helmet. The Riddler? She questioned herself as she revved the engine loudly, masking the scream of jubilation she released in her helmet. So it wasn't the Joker, but she was definitely moving up in the world. With a smile, she revved the engine once more and drove as fast as she could out of the cave, unable to keep the smile off her face as she emerged onto the road and rocketed towards her new career in the fight against crime.

Finally, a fight against "big time super villains."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I get it. Bob Kane owns Batman. I own this story though! (But not Batgirl or the villains)

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**Chapter 2  
Riddles in the Dark**

The smile on her face didn't fade until she reached the wharf. Babs pulled the bike into an alley across the street from the wharfs, turned it off, set her helmet on the handlebars, pulled out a grapple and scaled the building she had parked behind. The warehouse in question resided only across the long truck lane separated from the street by a fence. In front of the warehouse and on the other side of the truck lane, red and blue flashing lights, crime scene tape, and four police cars blocked her from entering.

None of this would stop Batman.

She pondered for several minutes how to get in. Walking up to the warehouse and asking entrance certainly wouldn't get her inside. Even though she did have her unknowing father's approval, she didn't have the magical ability to make sure that he didn't get suspicious of her being really under the cowl if she got close enough. She couldn't take that risk, not now. Maybe when she got the full respect of the police department and proved herself to them.

After a few more seconds, she decided it was most prudent to attempt to enter through rooftop. She walked away from the edge of the building and questioned which side to go through. There was no way she could jump all the way across the truck lane or the all the way across the street (much less all the away across both), and there was no way that she could manage to swing line across that distance because of the absence of sufficient building for it to grab onto. She looked to her right. Perhaps it was best for her to run across the street and then travel to the warehouse over the wharf's various rooftops.

She bolted across the street and lane, hiding in the shadows of one of the buildings down the wharf from the warehouse. From there, she moved along the wharf from the backside, where she found a ladder leading to the top of one of the warehouses that lined the water. She jumped from rooftop to rooftop before reaching the warehouse in question, and peeked over the roof to make sure that the police were about to leave before slipping inside from a roof access point, making her way down the stairs that led into a darkened office overlooking the entire room of the warehouse. She watched the last of the investigators exit the room and turn off the lights while she pulled two lenses out of her pocket and fastened them to the eyes of her mask. The lenses brightened the room, creating her own, personal night vision.

She left the office, jumped off the catwalk overlooking the warehouse, landed with her hands on the railing, feet erect in the air, and held herself there, exhilarated at the thought that the tiniest slip could send her into a deathly fall. She propelled herself upwards and spun herself so that her face looked out over the entire warehouse and not a wall, still in a handstand on the small bars. After eyeing a point several feet "in front" and below her, she double flipped, landed gingerly on her feet on one of the huge stacks of boxes, throwing her hands up and then instantly back flipping into complete oblivion without looking. It exhilarated her to not look; it helped her feel alive. She rocketed towards the ground and bent her elbows as she landed and performed a handspring, land finally landing on her feet, hands up in perfect Olympic form.

"And the Olympic gold medallist," she whispered with hushed intensity. "Barbara Gordon!" She bowed to the imaginary raucous cheers and applause echoing around the dark, vacant warehouse.

Now, however, to business. She looked around. The warehouse was relatively empty save for various stacks of crates, all neatly and perfectly aligned. One stack, however, was missing two crates from the top, creating a perfect, stair-like indentation. She crept up to the spot the missing crates had resided. Nothing out of the ordinary. She prayed the investigators didn't take the evidence she needed. Removing her lenses, she clicked on a mini flashlight retrieved from her utility belt and picked up several small fibers on the ground in front of the crates with a set of tweezers she pulled from another pocket in her belt. Several were green and synthetic, while a few were orange, like her hair. To the untrained detective, this would have yielded very little aside from a probably inconclusive DNA test. When she examined the fibers closer, however, she realized that one of the fibers was purple.

She smiled. It was the Riddler after all. Couldn't he have just told her? Would it have been that difficult?

Something echoed around the warehouse and she whipped around. There was a click, a very small click, and hastily pocketed the fibers, tweezers and flashlight. She quickly snapped the lenses back into position, and fired her grapple with the other hand, rocketing her to the ceiling. The investigators had returned. Hadn't they already examined the scene?

Then she realized it didn't matter. She had what she came for and she didn't need to stay around any more. She swung on the grapple to the catwalk and carefully slunk into the office she had entered through.

"Who's there?" came a voice from the area with the missing crates.

But before the voice could even shine his flashlight onto the office area, Babs had already emerged onto the roof of the warehouse, where she moved to the ladder at the end of the warehouse and climbed down it quickly, sprinted across the trucking lane and street, vaulted over the fence, popped out her lenses, and examined the clue Batman had given her again when she reached her bike.

Where were there a lot of rocks that remained in place? And who on earth would they guard? Why would those they guard not need to be moved? Why would they need to guard people who didn't need to be moved? What would be the grim news? How would rocks convey grim news? Would they fly up and attack those who approached? How could Batman solve these without even thinking about it?

_Focus Babs! _She forced herself to concentrate again. Riddles were nothing more than superfluous metaphors. After staring at it, again, imagining and picturing the vague riddle/metaphor in her head for a minute, she smiled, kicked her bike into gear and revved it out of the wharf heading towards Gotham Cemetery at breakneck speed. What would The Riddler do when she got there? She knew he wouldn't go quietly and that he would have several cronies with him because there were always several cronies. She sighed. Finally, a chance to really prove to Batman that she really could handle this job.

She sped towards the cemetery, parked at the gate, hopped the fence, and headed towards a large, lighted mausoleum, listening in on the voices speaking around the room.

"-just got completely bored with Arkham as a whole. They don't let you read the newspaper, and when they do it of course has the crosswords already all filled out just for spite." The speaker made a tapping on hollow wood. "Hence the crate full of puzzles. This way I'll never run out of crosswords and life will be perfect."

"Ummm, boss?" came another voice from inside the mausoleum. "Since you stole a whole box full of the same exact book of crosswords, wouldn't you run out after the first book?"

Brief silence. "I hired you to lift heavy things not think you simpleton," the first voice yawned. "Echo? Query?"

"Yes?" came two same-pitched voices.

"I do believe me might have a traitor in the midst. Please show our thuggee number two out of the room."

"No! Boss! I didn't mean it that way! I was only messing witchya! Don't send me away! I just thought maybe we might-"

"Too late," The Riddler rebuked maliciously and snapping his fingers.

Feet scuffled and footsteps approached the mausoleum entrance; Babs hid in the shadows on the other side of the door. The guy did have a point, though. Nigma's plan made absolutely no sense; It didn't fit him at all.

As soon as Echo and Query emerged, Babs knocked their heads together with both her hands, sending them to the floor. The nameless, muscle clad thug turned around quickly and smirked devilishly.

"I knew there would be a way to prove myself to him."

"And what would make you want to work with a guy like that?" Babs teased.

He lunged at her with his two huge hands held out, as though in an effort to grab her head and smash it in. She leap frogged over his head and pushed off his back, landing three feet away as his head smashed into the wall behind her. One down…

She walked to the doorway of the lit tomb.

"Game's up, Nigma."

"Ah, Batgirl," the Riddler grinned from his position, sitting cross-legged on a coffin, his chin resting on his cane. "I didn't think one of the Batman's crew would be here so quickly, but such it is. I still have thuggees one, three, and four to take care of you. Gentlemen? If you will?"

The three muscular thugs cracked their knuckles as they turned to face Batgirl.

"Heh," she chuckled slightly more nervous about this suddenly-not-so-brilliant-sounding plan of hers.

The first thug pulled out a knife and lunged at her. She sidestepped and pushed his arm to his inside, as she had done to Robin no more than an hour before, knocking the thug off balance as he stumbled into the marble statue nearest to him, cracking the angel in half.

"See?" she said. "That's the problem with you guys: your skulls are so thick you can even crack solid marble."

The other two thugs growled and charged her together. She used her gift for agility to circumvent around the one on the right, kicking him in the side as he skidded to a halt when he realized what she had done.

"Ow!" she cried. "Not to mention tough ribs!"

The thug she kicked roared and charged her. He threw his hand out in an attempt to grab her head in his palm. She leapt back, using her speed to perch on the wall for a split second before pushing off the wall, landing on his head, propelling herself forward by pushing the thug's head into a wall, and jumping off of it towards the second thug, taking the second completely by surprise as she whirled around as fast as she could in a spinning kick. Her foot made contact with his face and he spun into another coffin, unconcious.

"You're done, Nigma," she smirked.

"I think not little lady," he smirked back.

He sprang off the coffin and landed gracefully on his feet before bowing, putting his right arm under his chest and holding his cane out at an angle with his left.

"Give it-"

Nigma swiped his cane upwards and to Babs' chin, holding its tip to her throat. "With no crosswords what am I supposed to do?" he teased.

She executed a back handspring, careful to kick his cane as she flipped backwards. He ran towards her. She handsprung again, landing on the wall with her feet and pushing off, attempting to tackle Nigma with her momentum.

That was the plan, anyways. The Riddler easily sidestepped her body and swung the cane down as hard as he could with one hand, as though bored, making contact with her spine. Since when was he so good?

She landed on her stomach, back throbbing.

"Tsk, tsk, little girl," he said, resting his head on the top of his cane.

"What? No riddle?" she groaned, as she stood up in pain.

"I'm not feeling like that today," he yawned. "I'll just kill you."

He flew towards her and brought down his cane towards her head. She blocked it with her forearm, easily bruising from the strength of the blow, sliding her arm around his cane, grabbing it, and flinging it aside.

"I always hated that cane," she snapped as she threw her fist at him.

"Funny, I always loved it," he deftly blocked her attack.

She gaped. He was never this fast before. What was going on?

She moved in and attacked him as fast as she could, barely knowing what to do next, improvising her strokes and hits. After several seconds, it became obvious that the rapidity of his blocks were taking a toll on him. She moved so fast he had no opportunity to overtake her with his own punches.

"Wha-" he barely managed to say as she punched him across the face as hard as she could, sending him spinning to the ground.

"And stay down!" She huffed.

He rubbed his cheek tenderly, looking around. "Huh? Wha- where am I?"

She looked at him, confused. Wasn't he just fighting her and didn't he almost win? She silenced him, kicking him across his face and to the ground unconscious. How strange? She had just almost lost to someone who, as far as she knew, had the thugs do all of the fighting, never fighting directly against anyone unless he was desperate or couldn't run away. He never attacked when he didn't have to, and just there, it seemed like he wanted to fight. Still baffled, she cuffed him, the four thugs, Echo, and Query, and left the tomb.

Once back on her bike, she radioed the police and told them of the situation at the tomb conveniently leaving out the part where she almost got her butt handed to her by The Riddler. It didn't really matter in the long run. Maybe she had just heard under exaggerations from Pixie Boots. Maybe The Riddler always fought like that. Maybe the "big time super villains" always fought harder than expected, knowing more was at stake. Regardless, she figured it out, took down the Riddler, played detective, and solved one of The Riddler's puzzles.

Not bad for one night's work.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Bob Kane/DC Comics/Someone else who is not me Owns Batman and Batgirl and Robin and Alfred and Two Face and Batcycles and Batcaves. I own this story though...

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**Chapter 3  
Coinless**

_THWACK!_

Babs thrust her palm upward into the masked man's chin, sending a reverberation of sound around the bank vault. Such was life, of course. She did wish someone got wind of this robbery before it occurred, though. Superheroes needed some kind of observer who could see everything and could coordinate counters against bank robberies based on the news heard from snitches and rumors throughout the city. Beyond that, an omniscient observer would help to make larger plans with larger groups.

She ducked under the butt of the gun of the next robber to attack her. How did she happen to pick the night when the only five guys in the entire city with submachine guns happened to knock over a bank? They had almost made it out of the vault too.

This fight could have been averted if she had just stayed to the shadows and taken them out one by one. But no, she had to stand all heroic at the entrance to the vault, in true hands-on-hips Peter Pan fashion and claim. "Nice try guys, but I can't let you out of here looking like that." So much for her namesake. Batman never would have done something that foolishly heroic or quipped so badly.

She brought the side of her hand across her assaulter's windpipe, knocking the air out of him. He stumbled around nonsensically, trying to breathe before passing out over a sack of loot on the ground. That's one down, if it was any consolation.

This fight didn't even disturb her as difficult either. Her matches with "lover boy" gave her a tougher time than this, but juggling five guys at once mode her less effective. Remembering exactly how many guys there were, who could still fight, which one would stay down, who would strike next, and how they would strike drained her attention. She was getting good at it. That was another thing her "observer" could do. The observer could help tell the agents, as it were, exactly which goon stood where and what move they were about to attempt by hacking into the bank vault security cameras. Well. That meant the person would need some mad computer skills.

She dodged the second guy's blow and punched him a fourth time. After two well placed kicks and a nice uppercut, he fell to the ground, drooling.

She sighed, letting her guard down for a split second. Of course, as Murphy's Law would have it, it was just long enough for another of the baddies to fling a coin filled bag around and into the back of her head, flying her face straight towards the ground. Her palms flew out and made contact with the ground an instant before her chin did. Now, however, she found herself not only in pain, but also rather ticked off. That observer sounded like a really good idea. Maybe if she ever retired she'd become an observer so that other heroes wouldn't be smacked in the back of the head by a bag full of coins. And why would anyone want a bag full of coins in the first place?

She pushed off the ground with her arms and onto her feet as she executed signature back handspring. These guys gave her more trouble than The Riddler's a month ago. Those guys were professionals and these guys were nothing more than a few knuckleheads who thought First Gotham National Credit Union would be an easy target. Amateur moves too: Nighttime, ski masks, entrance from the back, not checking the silent alarms... They had even tried to take potshots at her while she remained hidden behind the side of the bank door, depleting their obviously short supply of ammo, but an absence of gas bombs and batarangs on her part forced her to fist fight these amateurs.

She ducked quickly in front of the guy with the bag, who swung it again blindly, thinking it would work again and that she wasn't a professional, and gave him an uppercut to the jaw, knocking several teeth loose. She smirked. She had never knocked out a man's teeth with her fist before.

He fell to the ground, unconscious like the other two. She whirled around just in time to see the two others whip around the corner and grinned. A chase? These guys were too much fun. She sprinted after them, pulling her last twine out of her belt fastening two bolos to it for added momentum.

"Go! Go!" she heard one of them shouting as they ran.

She whirled the line over her head several times before letting it fly free and towards the man on the right. It circled around the man on the right's feet; his top half flew forward and as his feet tripped backwards he hit the ground like a rock. She sprinted to him, hearing a faint "Oh God! Oh God!" in the distance. Sure, that one was temporarily getting away, but she had to subdue this one first. She tied the rope around his hands and pulled his hands and feet up so that they stretched out in back of him like a pig ready to be stuck on a rotisserie. There was nothing quite like superb cord tying in comic fashion.

Babs ran to the exit and saw the man in the back pulling out of the spot he parked so perfectly in. Amateurs! They didn't even have a getaway driver! She ran, jumped onto the top of his car peeled out of the parking lot, and punched through the driver's side window, hitting the man across the face and then steering the car into the wall of the bank. The car turned sharply and forward as it smashed into the alley wall, its low speed not shooting her off the top. She released a sigh of relief. Not the most graceful of ways, but she got the job done, and that was what was important.

She ran back inside and tied the other robbers together with her final rope before moving outside and hopping onto her bike. With a quick kick, she peeled out into the street and back to the cave. Even though it had been a month, she still couldn't forget about her encounter with The Riddler. Why would he not know where he was? That made absolutely no sense. Perhaps it had something to do with him not thinking clearly and fighting like he truly knew what he was doing.

As she pulled into the cave, she watched Dick working feverishly at the punching bag. Batman, as usual, sat at the computer, poring over some file or another. She pulled in and dismounted, setting her helmet on the bike's seat.

"Anything else, boss?" she asked him, perkily as she walked over to what she had deemed "the store cupboard" and replenished her supply of gas bombs, batarangs, and twine.

"Something, but I was about to take care of it," Batman said.

"What is it?" she inquired.

"Another robbery." He rubbed his chin as he examined the screen. "First alarm went off thirty seconds ago."

"Doesn't sound too bad," she mused. "Can I take it? I'm already warmed up and I can just go. I'm ready." She closed the store cabinet and moved towards Batman to look at the screen.

She watched Batman's usually blank expression alter slightly as he contemplated the situation. Clearly, he thought she wasn't ready. Hadn't she proved herself time and again?

"Fine," he told her slowly, after much deliberation. "But take Dick with you."

"Hear that Bird boy?" she called. "You're on."

He nodded and slipped on his shirt and cape. "Where to?" he asked as he fitted his mask over his face.

"First Bank of Gotham," Batman responded.

"Great," she complained. "Another bank."

She didn't have any more time to complain, however, because after a quick revving sound, she whirled around, only to watch Dick take off out of the cave at breakneck speed on his own bike. He was going to beat her! She sprinted to her bike and jumped onto it, thrusting her helmet over her head.

"Later, Bats!" She yelled.

Batman merely scowled at her.

She peeled out of the cave, barely able to make out the rear red light on Dick's bike; she kicked the engine into high gear and bulleted down the highway, slowly, but surely, gaining on him until, at long last, she pulled up next to him as they reached Gotham Bridge.

"We're still on," Dick inferred, speaking about the unspoken race to the bank. The earpieces implanted in the helmets helped Babs hear him perfectly, even above the rushing wind and revving twin bike engines.

"I know," she smirked.

She weaved right as Dick weaved left and into oncoming traffic. He weaved back and forth as graceful on his bike as his flying through the skies on his swing line. From behind him, she could watch him as he performed each calculated move as though it were second nature. She let a vague sky escape.

He laughed. "Did I hear you say something about giving up?"

She squinted in frustration. This time, just like every other time, it was personal. She revved the engine and sped to the end of the bridge. He screeched and rocketed left down Cameron Street while she made her way straight down Longview. True, Longview was longer than Cameron, but it had lack of traffic that Cameron didn't have, Cameron's feeding the traffic that came not only from Central, but also from Sixth and Bond, which, at all times of night, were usually densely packed with traffic. His bike could help him maneuver through the tight gaps, but attempting to do it at Babs's current speed of seventy made it near impossible.

She made certain not to slack off, however. Simply because she knew she would win did not necessarily guarantee that she would; Dick always managed to have his own set of tricks to surprise her. She zipped in and out of traffic, occasionally rolling her eyes at the honking horn or yelling pedestrian.

With a quick turn down Market, she gunned the engine again. Market was always a personal favorite of hers because it was one of the few streets in Gotham that was entirely straight and never used. She zipped between cars as she ran the red light; pedestrians yelling as she whipped past them. Market also ended just one hundred feet before and a twenty feet above Prospect Avenue, the bank's street. That led, of course, to her favorite part: an exhilarating twenty-foot drop. She pulled into the park between Market and Prospect. Now, all she had to do was cut across a short playground and she would-

No.

As she looked down from her bike parallel to Prospect, she looked down at the twenty-foot drop only to see Dick traveling as fast as he could twenty feet below her. She gunned the engine and jumped off the cliff and landed on Prospect with a loud thud behind him.

"How'd you get in front of me?" she yelled, over the roar of her bike's engine.

"Trade secret," she sensed a smile through the earpiece.

Just when they got in sight of the bank, an armored car and three police cars sped out of bank's cross street. In that instant, their flirtatious games ended and the two sped up, attempting to catch the four vehicles.

Someone kicked open the back door to the armored car, strapped into a harness that anchored him to large car, his submachine gun glinting in the flashing streetlights as Babs watched him open fire on the three police cars chasing him. The police cars swerved out of the way, but not before the lead's tire blew out with a loud bang. The lead car swerved right then left before finally flipping onto its side and skidding to a halt after several hundred feet. The second car swerved to dodge the lead, but lost control and spun around, slowing until it stopped directly in front of the first. The third car was not so lucky. The apparently inexperienced driver slammed on the brakes, but succeeded in nothing more than skidding to a halt, driving up the hood of the second, and creating a crude ramp with the first and second.

"Catch me," Babs heard in her ear.

"Got it," she said.

She pulled back on the gas as Dick sped up. The man in the armored car motioned to the others in the back to speed up and attempt to lose their two incessant pests.

Dick drove his bike onto the makeshift ramp and sped up and over the top. Babs watched him fly stories into the air as she heard Dick's vehicle's engine rev loud before he back flipped off of his bike and flung out tracking pin that landed on the top of the moving armored car just before it peeled down another side street.

"Babs. Need a pickup."

His voice almost cracked under the strain.

"Can't you fly, bird boy?" she teased.

"Babs," his voice grew audibly louder. "Now would be a good time."

She slowed down. This had to be timed perfectly, or lover boy would be nothing more than lover pudding at the corner of Prospect and Ninth. She sped up slightly and made visual contact with his quick decent. She heard him smile over the intercom again. With a quick flip and a vertical push down, he landed squarely on the bike just as his bike exploded into a giant fireball on the ground several hundred feet down the road.

"Remind me never to do that again," he sighed as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Follow the blip on the computer."

Even through the helmet and whipping wind, she could still feel his warm breath on her shoulder and she melted slightly. Careful to drop back as though something happened, she followed side streets until she reached where the blip stopped several minutes later.

Dick, having recovered from his acrobatic stunt, indicated a small alley into which they could put their bike. Babs pulled in and stopped the bike and they dismounted.

Babs took off her helmet, careful to give a hair toss that she knew Dick would see. Babs looked at the location the masked men led them to and smiled. She had very much hoped for another super villain fight.

"Babs?" he asked, defiantly as he took off his helmet.

"Ye-" she turned around to face him.

"Thanks," he ran across the street and to the front doors of the building.

At least he said thank you. She ran to catch up with him.

They moved silently into the building and up the stairs until they vaguely made out the voices on the sixth floor. Robin put a hushed finger to his lips and indicated the next floor up and the air conditioning units that circled around the building.

Dick quickly moved down the hall after indicating to Babs to stay put and checked each room until he discovered where the meeting took place. He did a quick count of the rooms and motioned her to move swiftly and silently up the stairs.

He led her to the fourth room on the right and cut out a hole in the floor, dropping them into a three-foot gap between the floor and ceiling. Babs crawled forward as Dick crawled backwards, silently facing each other through the gap until they heard the voices going on in the room below them. They stopped and put their ears to the ground. This way they could indicate to each other and coordinate their movements the time came.

"-e're rich! Rich! Rich!" Someone cried.

"Not yet you fool," said a raspy voice.

Their eyes widened. Two Face was one of the most ruthless and duplicitous of all the villains in Gotham. Babs still couldn't help bouncing for joy at the thought of another fight. True, safety and the thoughts that she might not walk out alive remained on her mind, but she pushed them to back, but just far enough so that they would still give her a rush of adrenaline. Two Face. She really was moving up in the world.

"We can't move the goods yet. Just remember this bag is mine," Babs heard him tap it and the coins inside it jingle.

"Yeah, yeah boss," came the voice of another.

"When do we get our cut?" demanded the first impatiently.

"In a few minutes," sighed Two Face.

Dick attracted Babs's attention. He made a motion of flipping a coin, catching it, and slapping it on the back of his hand. Good point, why wasn't he-

But the section of wood she slightly bounced on from excitement collapsed under her weight. She fell down into the room and broke her fall on a table. Groaning, she looked up and into the barrel of Two Face's gun.

"Cops, cars, and now a Bat," he grinned. "I like this."

"What about the coin Harvey?" she reminded him.

"Forget the coin," he wheezed. "Why leave up to fate what I can just do myself."

No coin? What did fate have to do with it? Did it already predestine him to shoot her before he even knew she was coming? This wasn't like Two Face. She smiled bravely as he cocked his gun. So much for fate.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Don't own Batman... nuh uh. Own the story and the idea of it all...**  
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**Chapter 4  
Pride **

She closed her eyes. Like Batman, she hated guns. For different reasons, of course. He loathed them because they killed his parents. She loathed them because they were cowardly and incredibly dishonorable and cowardly.

TWINK. 

She heard a cry from Two Face before squinting open one eye. Two Face gripped his wrist as though it were contorted out of shape. In pure instinct, she dived behind the split table on the ground, and caught her breath.

Several tinks came from the ground around her as several gas bombs dropped from the Dick's ceiling hole. She pulled her gas mask from her utility belt and strapped it over her face, looking up over the crushed remains of the table, but ducked as several bullets flew blindly past her.

"Get them you fools! Get them!" coughed Two Face as she heard him run for the door. They needed to bring him in, but the gap between the table and the door was too uncovered and strife with bad guys to chase him. She heard Robin drop to the ground next to her, his gas mask in place as well.

"Ready?" He asked as he pulled several batarangs out of his belt, one between each knuckle.

"Yeah," she gasped for breath, adrenaline beginning to flow through her blood.

He jumped to his feet and blindly threw one batarang from each knuckle. Three hit, leaving the fourth to go trigger-happy in the now cloudy room. Babs ran to the man with the gun and kicked him, but not before she heard the gun fire and a searing pain shoot up her arm. She swept her feet around and pushed his now falling body into the wall behind him with her fists.

She ran through the smoke until she reached Dick, who fought the three remaining goons with what appeared to be two legs he broke off the table, one in each hand. They quickly dispatched the confused guards with their combined skill.

Dick signaled for her to follow him in chasing Two Face. She ran after him, but grabbed her now freely bleeding arm. She paused slightly to examine the wound. The bullet cleanly passed through her arm, and luckily did not lodge deep.

Dick stopped as he looked back. "You ok?"

"Yeah," she waved him off. "I'll be fine, just go after Two Face."

"No," he stated. "That looks serious. We'll get you back to the cave."

"No!" she shouted, pulling off her mask in the now cleared room. "We need to take him out."

"We have a tracer on him, remember?" he retorted. "That's pretty serious, and you're losing blood. We need to get to the cave so Alfred can patch you up."

She nodded weakly and ran to the bike after him, slipping on her helmet as he sat in front.

"Hang on." He rocketed out of the alley and back to the cave at breakneck speed. She barely kept enough consciousness to understand where they were, but realized in her dazed stupor exactly why he beat her to the bank. He weaved in and out of traffic at high speed. She smiled as she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and nuzzled his shoulder.

It was only a silly game after all. There was no real reason why she took such pride in making a big deal out of it to Pixie Boots. If only he didn't make such a big, unspoken deal about it.

She passed out onto his shoulder.

Next thing she knew, she looked up into the lights of the cave. "Two Face!" she gasped and she shot upright.

"It's fine young lady," Alfred informed her. She faced his back and saw him wiping the end of a needle he had undoubtedly used to wake her. "Master Dick informed Master Bruce that you would probably want to go on mission again to take him down."

"How long was I out?" she breathed, before falling back on the makeshift bed.

"Master Dick pulled in about two hours ago. You'll be fine, but your arm will take a few days to heal. I told Master Bruce, and he wholeheartedly agreed with me, that you take a break from your nightlife for several days until your wound heals."

"But I need to catch Two Face!" she moaned as she tried to stand up.

"All in good time, my dear lady," he sighed. "Dick is keeping an eye on him for you. He seemed very concerned."

She smiled. So Pixie Boots _did _care.

"In the mean time, I recommend you stay here," Alfred said as he picked up his med kit from the table next to the bed and carried it to another part of the cave.

"If you insist," she yawned as she dozed back to sleep.

When she woke up, lights still flooded the cave. She sat up slowly and gingerly pressed her arm, wincing slightly. It didn't hurt as much as she had thought it would or as much as when it had bled freely, but it hurt nonetheless. She stretched out, reaffirmed in her hatred of guns and hopped off the table.

She slipped on her "GCPD" t-shirt Alfred placed next to her. She loved Alfred. From what she figured, Alfred had been there when Batman's parents were shot. Since then, he always stood at Batman's side. Good man Alfred. Maybe there was food in the fridge he had left her. She trudged up the staircase to the manor. Bleeding could really drain a girl.

As she headed towards the kitchen, the smell of warm burger flooded her nostrils. She smiled as she saw on the counter a perfect burger, exactly as she always ordered it, fries, and a soda all placed over a small piece of paper, that read:

_Hope you feel better_

_R_

She giggled slightly as she ran over to grab a plate. She placed the food on the plate and moved swiftly to the big screen TV in the next room. Unfortunately, Dick, who had curled up on the couch in what appeared to be a very comfortable position, already occupied it. As she entered, he stood up.

"Need help with that?" he offered.

"No thanks," she smiled. "I got it."

She placed the plate down on the coffee table in front of the couch and sat. "Watcha watching?" she asked as she picked up her burger and took a big, juicy bite out of it.

"News," his voice trailed off.

"News?" She asked through a mouthful of delicious burger. "I thought you'd be a sports kinda guy."

He shrugged. "Nothing good on."

She ate in silence as they watched the screen flash images of the president shaking hands with some foreign minister. Honestly, she couldn't care less, her focus entirely on the burger.

"Feeling better?" he asked, breaking the relative silence in the room.

"Much!" she beamed swallowing the last bite. "And thanks for the burger. It was really thoughtful of you."

"I hoped you'd like it," he blushed slightly. "I guessed what you like. Any luck?"

She blushed slightly as well. "It's perfect. Thank you," her mind quickly diverted back to her "Batgirl" state. "Any word on Two Face?"

"Yeah, actually," Dick informed her. "You'll never guess where he went after he left."

"Where?"

"Arkham."

She gagged on the fries in her mouth. "You're kidding!"

"Nope," he smiled back weakly. "I didn't go in to question him, but he walked in through the front doors with his bag of coins."

That was strange. Why would Two Face go back to Arkham? That, intuitively, made no sense. He had no reason to go back there. He always acted independently and distinctly, careful never to work for anyone else, much less anyone in Gotham.

For the next several days, after she got back home, and Alfred had sown up her suit and washed out the blood, good as new she couldn't get the thought of Two Face heading back to Arkham out of her head.

When her arm healed, she put on her costume and drove to Arkham. At the gates, the guards let her in and she headed inside, passing other major villains, including The Mad Hatter, who feigned sleep, The Scarecrow, with a Voodoo doll, Mr. Freeze, who looked away from the glass and to the wall, Harley Quinn who was twirling the gum on her fingers, Poison Ivy, who was pruning a particularly vicious looking plant, and The Riddler, who had just thrown down a book of crosswords. At the Joker, she moved quicker than normal, extra cautious to not look at him as she walked by. No matter how good she thought she was, she hoped to never come face to face with him.

After the many cells, she stopped in front of Two Face's cell and looked in at the occupant, who was leaning against the wall of his cell and looked tired, with visible bags under his eyes.

"Hello, Harvey," she said.

He lifted his head off the wall and looked at her, arms tight in his straightjacket.

"Why'd you walk in here with a bag full of coins a week ago?"

He looked back at her with the crazy look in his eyes again. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Come on Harvey," she said, not wanting to deal with stupid mind games. "You know darn well that you came in here with a bag full of coins a week ago. I have proof."

"Lady," he informed her. "I was in here a week ago. I fell asleep and woke up in here. Sure, I slept for a good, solid night, but isn't that normal? Isn't that what you want me to do so that I can get out of here?"

"Don't lie to me Harvey."

"Why would I lie to you, little girl?" he said as he moved up to the glass separating them, his sneer exacerbating by the disfigured left side of his face.

"To protect someone," she replied coolly. "Who is it Harvey?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" he growled and went to his bed and flopped down.

"Let me see your tapes from a week ago!" Babs demanded as she stormed into Director Chase's office sixty seconds later.

"Excuse me?" Chase took off his glasses and arched his fingers, as Babs was sure he did with all of his patience.

"Your camera's security tapes," she reaffirmed. "From one week ago. I'd like to see them. Now."

"Of course," he smiled. "Anything for a friend of Batman."

They went down to the security station two floors down. Chase told the officer to put in the tapes from the week before. They pulled up the tape, but found nothing on it. Harvey actually laid in his cell the whole night, just like he had said. All the inmates had stayed where they were. Even when dawn broke nothing was out of place.

"Please ma'am," whined the officer in charge of the station. "We've been through this four times. Can't you give it a rest."

Babs took in a deep cleansing breath. Something wasn't right, but this guard did have a point. These tapes were fine. Nothing happened with Two Face on the night of the bank robbery. Perhaps that was why he wasn't flipping the coin. Some imposter pretending and dressed up as Two Face showed up in his place. But then why did Dick trace Two Face back to Arkham?

Questions raced through her mind all the way back to the Batcave. She pulled in to see Batman and Dick waiting for her.

"What did you find out?" Batman asked her.

"Nothing. Two Face never left his cell on the night he shot me."

"You did what you could," Batman nodded. "And I know you've been working hard, so Dick came up with a good idea. I seriously recommend-"

"What are your weekend plans?" Dick interrupted, obviously excited.

"Nothing, I think. I have work until five on Fridays," Babs replied, slightly confused.

"Good," Dick beamed. "Because I have a bunch of friends we could hang out with if you want one of these weekends."

Friends? Did this mean what she thought it meant? "What kind of friends?" She inquired.

"The Teen Titans! You heard of them?"


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans nor this incarnation of them. I only came up with them fighting this group and Batgirl hanging with them... And I didn't create Batgirl neither... Just the idea for this story.

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**Chapter 5  
The Titans**

"Dick!"

The Tower door opened and Babs looked upon a very tall, scantily glad, orange skinned girl with bright orange hair and green eyes. She cocked her head to one side. Dick forgot to mention this one. She was positive that Donna Troy, Wonder Girl, an Amazon from Themiscyra wasn't green.

The shocker for Babs, however, came when the girl threw her arms around Dick's neck and kissed him passionately. To Babs' utter… what was the word for it? Disgust? Jealousy? No! Not jealousy! Disgust? No! That wasn't it either. Disappointment? That was the word! Disappointment, he kissed her back, leaving Babs wondering for a good several seconds how long Robin skirted off to Titans Tower to make out with this girl.

When the kiss ended, Babs attempted to look unembarrassed as the girl beamed brightly, smiling at both of them in turn, repeating the process over and over and over, making Babs feel increasingly more and more and more awkward.

"Oh!" Dick snapped back to reality. "Batgirl, meet Starfire. Starfire, Batgirl."

Starfire's eyes widened. "You're Batgirl?"

Babs nodded, confused, checking to make sure that none of her confusion stemmed the kiss that Starfire had given as a hello to Dick. To her dismay, her confusion over the kiss was still there.

"X'hal! I have heard so much about you! Every time he comes, Dick always has the most wonderful stories about you!"

Babs blushed. "I'm sure they're not that good," she said, secretly hoping Starfire would continue.

"But they are! They are!" Starfire exclaimed. "They fill me with great joy and happiness at the thought of you and him working together!"

Dick turned to Babs. "Starfire is an alien from the planet of Tamaran. We rescued her about two weeks ago."

Babs turned to him, confused. "How did she learn English so quickly?"

Dick blushed again and turned away. Starfire, meanwhile, merely beamed with pride. "I kissed him!" she said proudly. "I scanned his tongue with my own to learn your speech patterns and common phrases!"

Babs almost collapsed. They were full on making out? She'd only kissed him twice. No, three times. No. Twice. Yes. Twice. Not that she was counting, or anything, she just, had a lucky guess. Yeah. That was it, a lucky guess!

Why did he neglect mentioning her? It wasn't like Babs minded or anything, but if she was barely kissing Robin while his tongue was dancing around an alien, albeit a very pretty, beautiful, hot, sexy, attractive alien who was more than willing to kiss on a whim, it would have been nice to know without trying to guess what the heck was going on.

"So…" Dick interrupted, trying to fill in dead time. "Are they all here Star?"

"As you requested!" she smiled back.

"Then let's go?" he asked Babs.

"Right behind you and Starfire!" she gave the biggest, fakest smile she could muster. Why did this bug her so much? It was a kiss necessary to help Starfire get along in the world. She didn't even have a reason to get territorial over the whole fiasco. This was ridiculous.

Dick shrugged and entered the tower behind Starfire. Babs seriously considered waiting around for a few minutes to see if anyone would notice, but decided to not act like such a petulant child. She didn't want to appear desperate or cat fighting with a super powered girl from Tamaran who could do goodness knew what with her green eyes.

They entered the large, spacious room at the end of the first hallway. Babs looked around at the ceiling, vaulted almost one hundred feet high. She looked around the room, eyes wide with shock. She suddenly realized exactly why Dick liked to come here so often.

It was every guy's dream.

The large TV screen sat between two cabinets as tall as the screen itself, each one jam packed with movies. The computers were state of the art, even from across the room. Someone in a red and yellow jumpsuit raided one of the two fridges while a girl and a boy sat on the plush, inviting sofas, watching the massive TV. Babs almost groaned for want of the comfortable seat. The cycle's seats were built for comfort but the cycle itself didn't have the proper legroom.

As they entered, another boy in a red top and short blue shorts entered through the opposite door. The boy and girl looked around from their comfortable position on the couch, and in an instant, the fridge closed and the boy in yellow and red disappeared as though he never existed.

"Who's this?" Babs felt her hair whip around her head. She spun around, but found no one there. What was-

"Must say, Dick," the voice said again. "Love the hair." Babs felt a slight tug on her hair, and twirled around to see a boy in a red and yellow costume looking back. She stared at him in wonder. "It matches mine," The boy smiled, his own red hair poking out of the top of his topless yellow cowl.

"Everyone," Dick called out, beckoning the remaining three people of the room. "This is Batgirl, the one I told you about. She'll be staying here for the weekend if that's alright with you guys."

Dick turned to Babs. "Going around the circle," he indicated with his arm. "This is Garth, or Aqualad," The boy in the red top and blue shorts waved shyly. "Speedy, Green Arrow's protégé," he indicated the boy who had come from the couch, who nodded curtly. "Donna Troy, or Wonder Girl," Wonder Girl smiled brightly. "And Kid Flash," Kid Flash nodded low.

Babs stood there speechless. The only thing missing was a Superboy. They had representatives of the major superheroes: Green Arrow, Batman, Aquaman, Flash, and Wonder Woman.

"Nice to meet you all," she smiled, blushing slightly.

"You want the tour of the tower?" Kid Flash asked.

"Sure," she shrugged, smiling. He was kinda cute… Maybe she could make Dick jealous…

"I need to discuss stuff with Ro-, I mean Speedy, really quick," Dick attempted to make an excuse.

"No need for the formalities," Speedy smiled to Babs. "Real name's Roy Harper," he held out his hand.

"Nice to meet you Roy," Babs shook his hand firmly.

Kid Flash rolled his eyes and exhaled heavily. "And my name's Wally West," he sighed as he held out his hand for her to take, but just as she put out her own, he swept her wrist with his hand and brought the top to his lips, kissing gently.

"So," Roy interrupted. "You wanna-"

But she didn't get to have the tour of the tour, for at that very moment, a red light flashed through the room and a loud klaxon called out unbearably loud. Dick ran over to one of the computers.

"Looks like we're going to have to put that on hold," he called out, not peeling his eyes from the screen. "We have a break-in at the warehouse over on Brookshire."

"Anyone else notice that the warehouses get the most publicity?" Donna inquired.

"And why is that?" Wally added. "It doesn't make any sense. Who likes warehouses anyways."

"The Fearsome Five, apparently" Dick muttered.

"Sweet," Garth butted in. "I love kicking these guy's butts."

"We might have a problem," Dick said from the seat of the bike a few minutes later.

"How so?" came the voice of Donna through Babs' headset as she flew above them.

"It didn't look like Dr Light was there," Dick replied back.

"Is that a bad thing?" Garth asked on his headset as he held onto Donna's arms above him. "He's always proved incompetent before. Maybe they finally got it through their thick heads that they were better without him. Why is it such a big deal? Maybe it's the Fearsome Four this time. Who knows, maybe they'll do even better…"

"But it's five, and they have a new person who, according to the security logs looked different, menacing. Even more so than the other four."

"I think we can handle it," Wally said.

"Where are you now?" Babs asked, arms wrapped around Dick's waist.

"The Warehouse," he responded. "These guys are pushovers. They're moving quickly, though. I'd give them three minutes, tops."

"Then we'll take two," Dick assured him.

"I can take them out from here Dick," Roy butted in. "Can I?"

"No," Dick responded. "Wait for reinforcements."

They pulled up to the warehouse. Outside, across the way from the warehouse itself, Roy and Wally stood in shadows facing a large moving truck parked in front.

"They're just moving back and forth," Roy informed Dick. "They're all contributing equally, as odd as that sounds. Usually their disunity pulls them apart, but this time it's different. It's like Psimon himself is in control and mind controlling them all."

Dick nodded. "Then we know what we need to do. Garth, Donna, try to take out Psimon. Don't want to make this any longer than we have to."

Garth and Donna nodded. Donna flew quickly over the truck, staying as close to the truck's roof as possible, when she blew straight back towards the building.

"Wally!" Dick yelled. "Get her!"

But Wally had already run up half of the wall before Dick had even reacted at him. With a quick push off of the wall, he bounded off and towards Donna. He caught her in his arms and landed gracefully on the top of the truck.

"Donna's down! It's a trap! They know we're here!" Wally shouted.

A large, bearded man vaulted over the truck, Wally, and Donna and landed with a gigantic thud in front of the other Titans, snarling and drooling in his scraggily auburn beard.

"Scatter!" Dick shouted, desperate to stay in control of the fight.

How? This guy was huge!

"Down!" Roy commanded as he dived to the right and loosed three arrows that exploded on impact with the giant man's chest, creating a quickly dissipated cloud of smoke.

"Bats!" Babs turned around to face Roy. "Choose a different target! You don't stand a chance against Mammoth!"

She whipped around to see two giant fists come screaming down and dove backwards on pure instinct right as the hands crashed into the ground creating a large, very small crater, rippling the asphalt under the shock.

Babs sprinted to Starfire. "You fight these guys before?"

"No, but I have been reading. Team members include Gizmo, Psimon, Dr. Light, Mammoth, and Shimmer."

"Dick mentioned one in place of Dr. Light. Any idea on that one?"

"I dunno, but I have a feeling I'm about to meet her!"

With that, Starfire rose into the air, power pulsing off of her in waves.

A bald, dark skinned woman walked around the truck, walking deceptively gracefully. She raised her hand, lighting it pink, and flung energy blast at Starfire, who fired her own in green. Babs looked around anxiously for something useful to do, not wanting to try to take out the woman who could shoot pink energy out of her hands.

"Wally," Dick's voice reverberated through Babs's ear. "I need you and Donna to take out Psimon."

"On it."

The truck Wally and Donna were on began to levitate, deftly flying into the air and as fast as it could to the wall next to Roy and Dick, who were attempting to take down Mammoth. Wally ran off the side of the truck and towards Babs, Donna in his arms.

"Wake her up," he demanded. "I'm going after Psimon."

Great. First mission and she was already a medic. Wonderful. She shook Donna fervently. "Donna! Donna! Wake up!" Something tapped her shoulder. As Babs turned around, a huge metal arm flew towards her and smacked her across the face, knocking her to one side and rolling along the ground.

"Oh! I'm sorry," came the voice of the man whose back was attached to three other claws. "Did that hurt?"

"I got him," Dick said, jumping in front of Babs and throwing a broken staff at Gizmo.

What was this? She was forced to play medic just because she wasn't really part of the team? True, Garth and Speedy were trying desperately to take out Mammoth, Dick was working on Gizmo, Starfire fought this new girl, and Wally was unsuccessfully attempting to fight Psimon, who stood, arms crossed, throwing things telekinetically at Wally. So where was the-

The ground began to absorb Babs and she kicked her legs until she hit the surface and jumped up, landing on solid concrete again. What was this?

A woman approached slowly, smirking. "Name's Shimmer. You the latest recruit?"

"Batgirl," Babs replied. "What's your power?"

The woman pointed her hand at the ground around Donna Troy, and the ground began to absorb her, swallowing her like quicksand.

"No!" Babs cried.

"Heh, that's what they all say."

Instead of attempting to pull Donna out, however, Babs ran to Shimmer and punched her across the face, stopping the sinking effect, but keeping Donna still embedded in the liquid ground.

"Ow," Shimmer rubbed her jaw. "That actually hurt." She straightened. "But no matter."

"What do you mean no matter?" Babs asked indignantly.

"That spell that I cast only lasts for a short amount of time," she teased.

Babs threw the same punch at Shimmer, who blocked it.

"Like I'll fall for the same-"

Babs gave an uppercut to Shimmer's jaw with the opposite hand, knocking Shimmer senseless to the ground.

"Donna! Donna!" Babs yelled at Donna. "I know you got hit, but you really need to wake up now. We need you."

"Hmm? Dick is that you?" Donna smiled.

Was everyone infatuated with Pixie Boots? "No! It's me! Batgirl! Wake up! The Fearsome Five is rather… fearsome!" Babs didn't even want to know how terrible that sounded.

Donna's eyes snapped open. "What do I do?"

"Psimon," Babs informed her. "Take him out."

"On it," Donna flew towards Psimon, attempting an aerial assault while Wally continued attempting from the ground.

Babs sighed. Perhaps she was cut out for the superhero business after-

Her world screamed red and her head lolled forward.

"That's for the three free hits. Be grateful it's not four," Shimmer said, rubbing her bruised jaw.

"You're done," Babs retorted.

She threw another punch at Shimmer, who blocked and countered with a kick. Babs grabbed her leg, and twisted it around several times, rolling Shimmer in midair and she fell to the ground.

"That'll show you," Babs said triumphantly.

"Huh?" Shimmer responded, dazed. "Where am I?"

Babs kicked Shimmer, knocking her out, and turned around to notice that the cohesiveness so readily visible at the outset of the fight, had begun to dissipate. Maybe it had something to do with Psimon's fall, the two pronged attack from Donna and Wally finally working. Donna took off immediately to fight the new member of the Fearsome Five while Wally ran over to help Dick with Gizmo. Babs stared as the remaining of the Five quickly lost their ability to fight effectively.

As she helped Dick take out Gizmo, by jumping onto Gizmo's back and ripping apart the metal device on his back, she pondered over the loss of unity, and by the time the battle ended and they had rounded up the Fearsome Five, Babs still couldn't shake a single pressing question that struck her when Shimmer uttered those four fateful words. This was similar to The Riddler four months prior. Could the same person be orchestrating this whole ordeal? Was Psimon the real perpetrator of these crimes? Was the streak finally over?

No. No way would Psimon make Two Face return to Arkham or want anything to do with the Riddler's crosswords.

This villain was a force to be reckoned with. If they could take out a powerful psychic like Psimon, then anyone was fair game.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Batman or Batgirl or The Penguin... But I own the story and won't make any money off it... Kinda unlike Bob Kane...

* * *

**Chapter 6  
Reflections**

Babs groped into the inky blackness of her room for her bedside table where her alarm clock it buzzed loudly, shaking with the effort and moving around. When her hands gingerly grazed it, she slammed her fist down as hard as she could on the snooze button.

As she cracked open one eye to examine the time she frowned at her alarm clocks' going off early again. She only needed a half hour to be ready to go to work. True, she could make her own hours, but her work as Batgirl made a certain cutoff time that kept her from starting too late in the morning.

She had the dream again. In her dream, the second she got off a hit on every villain she fought instantly forgot where he or she was just like the Riddler and The Fearsome Five. The fights were months ago, but that didn't mean the unknown villain had gone away. It still boggled her mind as she continued to think about how the Fearsome Five could fit into this puzzle. What did they have to do with the Riddler? Was Two Face a part of it? Amnesia wasn't the most common of symptoms of villains unless there was some sort of mind control. But who would have such mind controlling powers to control the minds of the Riddler, Two Face, and Psimon?

She rolled herself over into a sitting position on the edge of her bed and yawned, stretching out as far out as she could, before bringing her arms across her chest as though warming up for a training session with Batman. She stepped to the floor and made for the shower, pulling her hair back into a tight ponytail and keeping it there afterwards. She put on her horn rimmed librarian glasses and examined herself in the mirror. In a few years, if she still worked at a library she'd need to get rid of the ponytail. It was more convenient, but if her hair ever grew thicker or she decided to cut it shorter she would need to discard the look entirely. Maybe she'd keep the glasses. She didn't have an inkling of an idea why she liked them so much. In the mirror she thought they made her look professional, more dignified, but it probably went further than that, almost as though they helped make her look intelligent and like a wealth of information.

She walked downstairs. Her father was gone of course, gone for a busy day at the Police Department. She opened the fridge, but found nothing of great interest. Just left over pizza from a few nights ago and a carton of milk. Honestly, if she didn't do the shopping how would they ever get food?

The shopping, however, meant she could by whatever she wanted. She walked to the cupboard and opened it. Thank goodness for the delicious snack foods that looked back at her, waving invitingly. Choosing a pack of Pop-Tarts and putting them both in her mouth, she grabbed her keys and left for the library.

On the way, Babs still continued to think about the Fearsome Five and their connection. True, nothing of great importance happened after her encounter with the Fearsome Five at the Titans place, but she couldn't shake the feeling. Super villain activity remained at an all time low since then. It made no sense.

She pulled into the library parking lot and trekked up the stairs to her lone desk in the research department of the library and sat at the computer for hours, unsure of what exactly it was that she was doing. It even successfully managed to distract her from her thoughts about the super villain puzzle she was attempting to solve.

When she locked up her office at six o'clock, she headed back home for a quick bite of reheated pizza before hopping on her bike in full Batgirl suit and to the Batcave.

When she pulled in, Batman sat at the computer.

"Where's Dick?" she asked as she hopped off her bike and walked to the punching bag, tying tape around her hands.

"Off on an assignment, but don't start," he said from his position seated at the computer, fingers arched.

"Why?" she asked as she turned her head towards him, tape in her mouth.

"We're going out," he stated as he pulled up his cowl over his head.

"Where to?" Babs asked.

"Iceberg lounge," Batman replied as he walked to the Batmobile and pressed a button, opening the top hatch. "We have someone we need to interrogate."

An interrogation? With Batman? In the Batmobile? Had he planned to scare her like this? It would be her first time with him on a mission.

"Let's go Barbara," Batman said loudly from the front seat of the car, as she stood there, dumbfounded.

"Hang on," Babs replied, grabbing more from the stash of batarangs and rope and then sprinting to the car and jumping in.

He rocketed out of the Batcave, deftly moving the steering wheel as though it were a part of him and paying no attention to any of the flashing buttons in the car. The whole experience was fascinating. It took every ounce of her resilience to not ask. "What does this button do?" and press every single button. She had to make sure to keep her hands squarely in her lap.

The car ride was deafeningly silent. Batman crossed the bridge and continued to shoot through the city.

"So…" she began, anxious to break the silence. "You seen any good movies?"

She watched his head twitch slightly, as though annoyed that she would talk to him in the car ride.

"Nothing good," he responded curtly.

"Oh," she frowned. "That's a shame." Awkward silence. "So… What's your favorite movie of all time then?"

Batman turned his head at her quickly before turning his head around to face the road again. He didn't have to be so rude about it. It was probably some classic too. Something like _Gone With The Wind_. She laughed before she could stop herself, causing him to glare at her again and silencing her for the rest of the trip.

They parked around the corner from the lounge so as not to attract attention and moved to the front doors of the club, street devoid of all signs of life. Not that this surprised either of them since the club didn't open for the night crowd for two hours. The bouncer at the front door turned and began to speak into his jacket, nodding and stood directly in front of the doors to keep them from entering.

"I'm sorry, sir," she could feel the cowardice in his voice. "We're closed."

"Do you really think you can stop me?" Batman growled, slightly annoyed.

"I have to try," the bouncer said as he reared back his hand and threw it forward in a punch to Batman's face.

Batman deftly grabbed the man's fist and twisted, breaking the wrist. The man cried out in pain for a split second before biting down on his lip. No need to call for attention. This guy thought he could take out Batman solo. It never happened, and it never would.

Batman kicked the man in the chest and released his grip on the fist, knocking the bouncer over. "Don't get up," Batman scowled at the man.

The man obliged, but Babs could see him aching to stand up and take Batman out while Batman pushed the doors open. Babs followed behind Batman, but the man's ape-sized hand grabbed her ankle and pulled it back, preventing entrance.

"You, I think," he murmured. "Cannot ent-."

Babs brought her foot down on his face, shattering his nose. "Right. Like you can stop me?" she continued walking normally, the bouncer's hand jumping to his nose to stem the bleeding.

It was a large lounge; the front had a large stage complete with two pianos and a space for a full nightclub band and each of the three levels opened up so that the tables looked upon the stage with ease.

Since it was early in the evening and the club wasn't open, no patrons occupied the tables, multiple dance floors, or bars, but the plethora of large, bulky bouncers with nothing to do except patrol the halls stopped upon seeing Batman and Batgirl, pulling out their handguns and taking cover.

"Think they like us?" Babs asked herself sarcastically.

Batman merely grabbed a table and flipped it onto its side, creating a barricade for them to hide behind. Babs ducked behind it directly next to him.

"Barbara," Batman growled. "This is your fight. We're here to further your investigation." He pulled several metal spheres out of his belt.

"What investigation?"

Batman just glared at her and threw the smoke bombs out to the bouncers and stayed hidden behind the table.

"Are you telling me you won't help me at all?"

Batman said nothing. Babs growled in frustration and looked over the top of the table to see the bouncers either coughing into their sleeves or trying desperately to see her. She vaulted over the top of the table while she pulled out several batarangs from her belt and threw them quickly, yet accurately and heard the tink of the gun being snapped out of several bouncer's hands.

She reached the first one, who attempted to grab her head. Babs ducked underneath the hand and punched upward, yellow gloved hand making contact with his chin. She heard him cry out and the others began to run towards the cry. She spun around and kicked the first in the gut, knocking him backwards and towards a bar. She jumped straight up and landed on the second's one's neck as he dove towards her, forcing him into a face plant, which cued her into and adroit jump upwards.

Two down… She landed, somersaulted around the third one, between the next one's legs kicking his knees out when she completed the maneuver, kicked to her feet, and ducked again. These guys fought like Dick, but they moved slower than he did, making them oversized targets with walnuts for brains.

The remaining four charged her, attempting to maneuver around her and trap her. She executed a back handspring, kicking the nose of the man behind her and pushing her full body weight into the kick, landing on his fallen body. Frustrated with her abilities, one of the remaining three ran forward, charged back for a strike as he completely forgot the team mentality. Babs dodged around the clenched fist and kicked her heel out to the man's shin as he ran into it, her shoe sticking and bruising the sensitive portion of leg.

The bouncer grabbed his shin and hopped around on one foot. The other two ran towards her, arms attached, in an effort to "clothesline" her. She rolled her eyes, stayed stationary, and ducked underneath their arms, jumping up in a spin and kicking them in the back and towards the ground.

The bouncer with the shattered shin put his leg down gingerly and leaned on the wall keeping the weight off his broken bones as she walked up to him, dusting off her hands. He tried to punch her again, but she dropped to the ground, spun her leg around and made contact with his face, sending blood splattering across the oaken bar. She purveyed the scene of complete carnage complete with groaning bouncers in white tuxedos and wrecked tables.

That was fun.

"Enough games," she said as she put her heeled foot over the shinned bouncer's throat and pushing down slightly. "Where's the Penguin?"

"I'll never tell,"

She dropped to her knees, grabbed his tuxedo, and pulled her face up to his. "Where is he?"

"I ain't talking,"

She pulled back one hand, prepared to strike. "Where?"

"Top level! Top level!" He shouted.

Babs punched the bouncer in the face, knocking him unconscious, his head lolling to the ground.

She turned around to face Batman, who was standing right behind her. "Top level."

"Top level?" Batman asked from behind her. "That's where The Penguin always is."

"It was for… dramatic effect," she grumbled.

They ran to the top level and stopped in front of the Penguin, who had his arms wrapped around two ladies, whispering in the one on the right's ear. Babs almost puked. He was so disgusting! There was no amount of money worth that!

"Wah!" The Penguin said as he turned around.

Two bouncers appeared in front of Batman and Babs, who dispatched them with a quick kick apiece.

"What do you know?" Babs asked as she grabbed the Penguin's jacket.

"Know about what?" The Penguin responded, his eyes flashed towards the ceramic, purple striped cat on the table.

The girls fled past Batman, who had stepped backwards into the shadows.

"Where did you get the cat?"

"I bought it," The Penguin responded blankly.

"Yeah, right," Babs responded.

"Fine, fine. It was a gift from Catwoman," he blundered quickly.

"Catwoman's not even around," Babs told him. "She left Gotham months ago."

"She was actually in Arkham a few days ago," Batman interrupted.

Babs whirled on Batman, and then back to the Penguin. "Then where did she get it?"

"Museum?" The Penguin guessed. "I'm a business man, not a thief. I don't care where she got it."

"If you hear anything," she grabbed the front of his suit and pulled his face right into hers. "And I find out that you didn't tell me, I'll put you away for a long time."

She threw him back to the chair he was sitting in, which flipped over and broke from the force of the impact.

"Let's go," she stormed out of the room and back to the car, actually leading the way as Batman followed.

Once in the car and they were driving away, she stayed silent, processing. "Why didn't you tell me that Catwoman was in Arkham last week?"

"This is your investigation, not mine," a blip flashed on the main console in the center map of the Batmobile.

"What's that?" Babs asked.

"Something we need to take care of, but we're too far away," he pushed a button, and Babs heard a tiny beep before Dick's voice came on the speakers in the Batmobile.

"Yeah?"

"Break-in at the Salk Research department on 11th. We'll be there in ten minutes, but until then, we need someone who can take care of it."

"I can be there in three."

"Try and subdue whoever it is. If you need help, radio as soon as you need it. We'll be there as soon as we can."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Fear

Dick screamed into the Batmobile's suddenly interrupted audio system. "Help! Somebody stop this! Help! Help!"

"Dick?" Batgirl blurted out amidst the screams.

"Oh my God! It's them! They're falling! NO! Don't go! Stop! Stop! STOP!!!!"

"What's happening? What's going on?" Babs asked.

"I don't know," Batman said, frustrated, accelerating the Batmobile.

"Help me," Dick begged, soft, and frightened. "I think it's coming closer. Please no. Don't get any closer. No! Wait! What are you doing? Stop! Stay away from me!"

"What's coming closer?" Babs asked, urgently.

"Scarecrow," Batman whispered, smiling slightly.

"What?" Babs asked, suddenly more frightened.

"Dr. Steven Crane, alias: Scarecrow. Robin's been infected with what I suspect is a new neurotoxin. I need to synthesize an antidote, so you'll need to take him out solo. Besides, this is part of your case."

"Wait," Babs stared at him, eyebrows knitted. "You know who it is?"

"I never said that," Batman smiled smugly. "It's your case. You need to solve it."

Babs pouted. How were Two Face, The Riddler, The Fearsome Five, and, now, The Scarecrow all related? Was the Penguin really involved? How could Batman already have solved this case?

"Take Robin's bike back to the cave when you're done."

They turned into an alley behind Robin's warehouse, lights flooding the dark corners and facets of the alley. Batman slammed on the brakes as Dick jumped out of a back door and into the middle of the alley, skidding to a stop like a deer in the headlights, cringing away from the lights, falling to the ground, and finally twitching uncontrollably as Batman slid open the Batmobile's top, jumped out, pulled a sedative out of his belt, and injected it into Dick's neck.

Immediately, Dick began to slow down, his body cooling as his rapid twitching and breathing slowed. Batman picked him up and set him in Babs's old position in the Batmobile.

Sure that Dick would be alright, Babs ran into the building through the door that Dick had entered and into the inky blackness, pulling out her night vision lenses and clipping them to her mask, the massive factory filling green around her.

"Good evening," a voice echoed around the factory's catwalks and metal walls. "I don't believe we've met. You are?"

"It's Batgirl, Scarecrow," she called out. "Why don't you come down here so we can talk."

"You know my name!" snickered the Scarecrow's voice. "But what's the fun in talking face to face? I prefer talking this. It's so… intimidating"

Babs looked up to an office on the top catwalk, which overlooked the factory. The lights in the office were on, creating a white void her lenses could not see into.

"Not in there, my dear Batgirl," The Scarecrow teased. "So stop trying to see me. I have you surrounded. I am everywhere and I am no where." She shivered, feeling the glee in his voice and the smile on his face. "Sends shivers down your spine, doesn't it? Knowing that I can be anywhere. For all you know, I could even be right behind you."

Babs whipped around just in time to see a shadow dart behind a large container. She sprinted after it, but when she rounded the other side of the container, she found nothing. Where was he? What if he got the drop on her? What if she couldn't find him in time? What if he took her out by surprise because of her inability to know his location? What if she would never prove herself to Batman?

"How's the air? Any good?" the Scarecrow mused. "I think it tastes… beautiful, full of that taste of… Whats' the word? Fear, maybe?

Babs dove to the side, away from something speeding towards her, and pulled out her gas mask to prevent her from inhaling more of Scarecrow's toxin.

"I think it's too late," The Scarecrow said, mocking pity. "Your brain has already been intoxicated. It's too late," he laughed as she stumbled blindly into a tank next to her, sending an echoing sound of hollow metal reverberating through the cavernous warehouse.

_Come on Babs! It's a chemical compound! It's diluted throughout the air, there's nothing to fear. He's just an emaciated looking man who's never gotten any dates--_

She screamed as a giant pair of scissors dove out of the sky; ducking to one side, she curled into a tiny ball, placing her hands over her head.

It took her several seconds to calm herself down enough for her to lift her head. A giant pair of scissors had cut and flown over her head.

_I have nothing to fear. The scissors weren't real. They had only flown in her head._

She attempted to suppress the overwhelming, thoughts that plagued her senses, closing her eyes, listening intently for anything, footsteps, breathing, footsteps.

Footsteps came first, patting at her rapidly from behind. She spun, eyes still closed, and swung her foot blindly to stop the footsteps that were coming from behind her. The steps stopped as her leg swung past.

_Fakes. They weren't real._

She continued to listen, eyes still closed. For a split second, she heard slight, quiet, feather-soft footsteps echo slightly on the catwalk above her.

She pulled her grapple out of her belt, fired it upwards, and heard it chink on the metal grating in the catwalk. It pulled her upwards just as a maniacal, unbearable cackling echoed around the room, causing a split second's hesitation, just enough to make her lose her concentration and her grip on the grapple.

The Joker could not be here. No way. He never teamed up with anyone unless he was in control. Which would mean that Harley or assorted thugs would accompany him.

Eyes pressed and forced closed, continued her upward climb as a gun fired from the ground below. She flinched slightly, but continued, as the gun fired again, repeatedly as more and more shots rang out, other people's footsteps run to join the gunshots fired upwards.

_It wasn't real. It was the Scarecrow's trick to get her to fall and give in to her fear. _

She opened her eyes to see a giant snake intertwined with the metal grating; she smashed her eyes closed again, yelping as she held tightly to her line. Regaining control of her breathing, she swung upwards and onto the bars of the catwalk, but felt something crawl onto her hand as she gripped it. Almost recoiling on instinct, she let the thing disappear from her mind as she pulled herself over the bars, jumping to the grating, and gasping from the strain of maintaining her mental stability, as she felt it begin to take its toll on her body. The familiar feather steps approached her, taking their time and being careful to make no noise.

"Good," she heard the Scarecrow's chuckle echo around the factory. "Good! But you can't keep your eyes closed forever. You never know what could happen."

The inflection of his voice combined with the sound of the grating creaking slightly forced Babs' eyes open, just in time for her to react and grab the Scarecrow's ankle an inch before his foot made contact with her face.

"How? How did you?" he stammered.

"Trade secret," she smirked as she pulled his leg straight up, falling him to his back. She stepped over him, looming. "Where's the antidote?"

"What antidote?" he asked innocently.

"In order for you to pump your fear toxin into the room, you have to be inoculated with a vaccine. Where is it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," the Scarecrow feigned ignorance.

"Give it to me. Now," Babs demanded.

"I don't think so," The Scarecrow yawned. "I want to know what Batgirl fears most in the world. Losing the respect of Batman and Robin? Failing to fight again?"

Slow footsteps this time. Clink. Clink. Clink. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Babs looked up. There stood the Joker, hat over head, eyes covered, gun pointed at her stomach. He smiled wider than normal, cackling as he pulled the trigger, relishing as she felt the bullet break into her body and through her, shattering her spine. She fell to the ground too paralyzed to move, breathing shallow, bleeding freely.

"Thought so," The Scarecrow cackled as he flipped to his feet and turned, walking away.

_Get up Babs. You're not injured. It was just a figment of your imagination. _She tilted her head up slightly to watch as the Scarecrow walked directly through the Joker. _See Babs? It's not real; just a figment of the Scarecrow's toxin_.

But the bullet hurt so bad. She put her hand to the gaping hole in her stomach and pulled it up to her eyes, the blood glistening on her glove. No bullet could stop her, imaginary or real. Slowly, the blood disappeared from the glove as her mind began to perceive and separate the imaginary from the real. The wound disappeared and the warm blood dried and dissipated from her stomach.

She stood up, slowly, careful to hold her stomach as her mind healed her tender flesh and spine.

"Scarecrow!" she yelled, making him turn as he turned the around catwalk's corner. "We're not done yet!"

He bolted, sprinting down the catwalk, Babs hot on her heels, careful to run through the Joker. Figments popped out of the walls and into her path, but she ignored them, adrenaline commandeering the bloodstream and temporarily forcing the toxin from its control over her body. She followed him into the main room, popping out the lenses out of her eyes just as she burst into the lit office, Scarecrow stopping momentarily to flip on the factory lights, hoping to daze her, giving her enough time to swing her fist at his head, catching up to the Scarecrow as he stopped for a split second to turn on the lights.

He ducked, unusually agile and attempted to return the hit.

They fought, Scarecrow dodging everyone of her fast hits, but unable to return any himself because of her speed. He dodged around her and sprinted into the factory, hoping to escape through there. She handsprung after him, jumping out of the third and spin kicking him in the back of the head, sending him to the catwalk, sliding towards the edge.

"No! Don't let me fall!" He screamed.

She grabbed his ankle, holding him from the edge.

"Now who's scared?" She smirked, tying some rope around his ankle and then to the railing, letting him dangle towards the ground. "Where's the antidote?"

"Never," he said, trembling.

"Fine," she shrugged letting some of the slack on the rope, slide so that he fell closer to the ground.

"Alright! Alright!" he screamed. "I'll tell you! Just haul me up."

"Tell me first," she said.

"No," he retorted. "I'll never tell until you let me-"

She rummaged through his pockets, until she found a small red vial. She pulled out an injector from her belt, clicked the vial into it, pressed the button, and injected the antidote into her bloodstream.

"Hey! Hey! You can't do that! Let me down!"

She ignored him, walked outside to Dick's bike, which he had parked farther down the alley, and radioed the police, telling them the Scarecrow's location. She kicked the bike into gear, revved the engine, and she looked out onto Mercy Road only to see a long, purple convertible with two women speed by, chased by three police cars.

Couldn't she ever have a minute to just relax? She kicked the bike into gear peeled after the four vehicles.

"Batman," she said into her helmet's communication system. "Police chase down Mercy. Know who it is?"

"Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy," Batman said after several seconds, keys tapping audibly in the background. "Why?"

"I'm going after them," Babs smiled as she sped up in an attempt to catch Harley and Ivy. More super villains. She wasn't sure whether to be delighted or scared. No. She was delighted. She had conquered fear for the night.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Plants and Clowns

Babs revved her bike down Mercy road in pursuit of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. They peeled left down Main Street. More police cars joined the chase behind Babs and the three other Police cars. Babs slowly made her way past the other police cars, who responded to her presence neither positively nor negatively, continuing their pursuit with just as much intensity as normal, not getting out of Babs' way.

Harley, in the passenger seat, shouted something to Ivy, who turned the wheel and screeched around the corner, jetting off down a side street. Babs cut the turn early and easily took the corner at full speed; unfortunately for the larger, less maneuverable squad cars they had to decelerate and lose nearly all their speed in order to make the turn. Unhampered by the police, she continued speeding after Harley and Ivy, slowly gaining on them.

Harley pulled a large weapon from the floor of the back seat and placed it over her shoulder, aiming the large, wavering launcher at Babs. She fired it, rocketing her shoulder back and into the windshield, splintering the convertible's glass from the recoil of the over sized rocket launcher.

Babs swerved out of the way to avoid the swerving missile. _How did Harley get her hands on a rocket launcher? Oh, right. She worked with the Joker_.

"Any word on what they stole?" Babs asked into her comm. system as Harley loaded another round into her rocket launcher.

"There's nothing conclusive," Batman said on the other side, the sound of him scratching the shadow of beard on his face. "They trashed a mall and were on their way out as the police arrived. There could be anything in that trunk."

"Know where they're headed?" Babs asked. Harley fired another round at her. She dodged it, but the nature of her swerve lost her most of her speed. _Why did these chase scenes always have to grow so complicated? What happened to the traditional no gun chase scene?_

"Anyone's guess," Batman said. "They were both in Arkham just last night, so it's safe to say that they probably already have a place to go to."

_Arkham? What did Arkham… wait a minute._

"Where was the Scarecrow last night?" she asked, pieces clicking in her mind.

"Arkham. Why do you ask?"

"It's the missing link," Babs thought out loud. "Two Face, The Riddler, Scarecrow, Harley, Ivy… All of them were in Arkham at some point."

Radio silence. "So? Every major criminal in Gotham has been in Arkham at some point or another. What's your point?"

"But were they all in on the night before they committed their respective crimes?"

"Follow your hunch," Batman said, trying to mask his fake skepticism.

"So I go to Arkham after I finish this?" she asked as she swerved down an alley Harley and Ivy scraped into, sparks flying off the car's contact with the wall.

"Follow your hunch" his voice trailed off, daring her to go to Arkham.

The car hit a bump in the alley just as Harley brought the launcher up to her face again, a bump triggering the missile launcher prematurely. Harley yelped as she recoiled backwards, firing the missile spiraling upwards into the brick apartment building, sending chunks of brick and wall onto the alley. Babs kicked her bike into gear, swerving around the falling chunks of debris, gunning the motor and shifting gears and chasing the convertible down the next street. They turned down Market Street and peeled down it, swerving in and out of the cars in all lanes of traffic.

Harley loaded another round as Babs sped up to catch the car, wondering why they were rocketing towards Market Street's dead end. Babs dodged around Harley's next round easily. Frustrated, Harley threw the launcher out the back of the car, clattering down the street and towards Babs' motorcycle.

Babs weaved to one side as Harley threw several round, purple spheres out of the back seat, glowing orange fuses dwindling into them. She only had a second to react before the smiling purple bombs exploded, showering the ground with shrapnel and choking the air with smoke, forcing her to slow and weave to avoid puncturing her tires on the major pieces.

Ivy cut the car to one side when she reached the park, sending it skidding towards the legde, carving up grass and dirt and shooting them over the side as they plummeted to the ground, landing with an earsplitting crunch. Babs followed them, skidding and chewing up the grass in the park, following Harley and Ivy from the park above, careful to stay above them so that they wouldn't notice.

Harley gave Ivy a quick high five and flopped down in her chair, wobbling her head side to side, and wobbling the bells on her hat as they sped down Prospect, falsely believing they were in the clear. As the park ended in a grove of trees and apartment buildings, Babs altered her course slightly so that she came off at a diagonal, soaring through the air in freefall and landing directly behind Harley and Ivy, who whipped around simultaneously as one, looked at each other, and shouted at each other inaudibly.

Ivy turned unexpectedly down Cameron Street. Why would they try to leave the city? They bulleted down the surprisingly uncrowded Cameron Street. Babs gunned her engine and caught up to Ivy, looking over at her and smiling innocently. Harley made a silly, immature face, pulling her eye down and sticking her tongue out as Ivy looked over, scowled, and threw some seeds from her hands onto Babs's helmet.

Babs yelled and attempted to scrape off the dangerous seeds that embedded into the crevices of her helmet and grew unnaturally, blocking her field of vision. She ripped the vines off her helmet, only to find herself looking straight into a large semi truck, heading straight at her. The truck flashed its lights and peeled to Babs' left as Babs cut her speed and cut right, pulling in behind Ivy for a second before Ivy turned unexpectedly onto Gotham Bridge. Babs followed, pulling several batarangs from her belt, now close enough to use them effectively. She threw them at the wheels of the purple car, and they popped the purple car's left tires, exploding with two simultaneous loud bangs and sending the car swerving from the loss of balance. The car tipped and skidded to a halt, throwing Harley from the front and onto the street, screaming at the top of her lungs as she rolled comically down the bridge.

Babs turned quickly, cutting her speed completely, and lifted the helmet off her head. "Give up?" she asked politely. It never really did hurt to ask.

"Yeah right, lady!" came Harley's voice as she stood up and dusted herself off. "We came this far and now we're going to make our special delivery to Mister J!" She swooned at the mention of his name.

"Will you give it a rest?" Ivy stood up from Harley's side of the car. "He doesn't care about you! Never has, never will."

Babs rolled her eyes. "Look, I would love for you two to enjoy your little bicker fest… Actually, I wouldn't. That doesn't really sound like a good idea."

Harley ignored her and stayed riveted on Ivy, lip quivering. "He does too care! Why would he have me around if he didn't care about me?"

"Because he doesn't care enough to tell you," Ivy said, annoyed, like she was explaining to a first grader for the millionth time that two plus two did in fact equal four.

"I said," Babs interrupted. "That I don't want to listen to this." She tapped her foot impatiently on the asphalt impatiently, growing more and more aware of the cars all stopped on Gotham Bridge.

"Will you shut up?" Harley yelled at her incredulously. "I'm trying to educate my friend on the finer points of me and my Mister J!"

"Can't we discuss this later?" Ivy asked. "The girl does have a point. We'll have to fight her eventually and it makes no sense for us to fight her later if only one of us is conscious."

"No," Babs smiled innocently. "You two can continue. By all means. I'll just sit here by the side not paying attention to anything."

Harley's eyes widened, realizing the finer points of Ivy's argument. "Hey! Ivy's right! There's two of us and only one of you. What the heck are we waitin' for?"

Babs gulped. She never faced off against any more than one super villain before.

Ivy charged at Babs and threw a handful of seeds, which landed on the bridge and dug into the asphalt, sprouting quickly and growing into a large plant, sending cracks through the ground and probably all the way to the bottom side of the bridge. The large, snarling plant lashed out its tentacles and grabbed her, pulling her in slowly to the center stalk lined with long, malicious looking thorns.

"It's a new creation of mine: the ventriculus. Super strong, abnormally fast, fast growing, and I imbued its thorns with a poison designed to stun its prey just enough so that they can't move, but can feel every part of the digestion process."

Babs struggled. "Digest me with what?" She tried to keep her mind focusing and not focusing on the dire situation at hand. How did this get the drop on her? This plant shouldn't have been that fast. She wriggled her fingers to her belt and pulled out a rope cutter, preparing to cut the plant's tentacle.

"This is why I love ya," Harley smiled, her annoying voice inflection raising with the thick accent she had created for her character as she placed her arm around Ivy's shoulders. "You always have the best toys. Well, the best besides Mister J's!"

Babs made a deft motion and sliced through the large tentacle that had just begun to constrict her ability to inhale.

"My plant!" Ivy screamed as Babs landed on the ground roughly, holding what felt like a cracked rib. "How dare you?"

She kicked Babs in the side as hard as she could, eliciting an audible crack from Babs' ribs. No. _There _was the cracked rib. Babs moaned as she rolled onto her back, trying to alleviate the pain from her body. "I'm sorry. Was that yours?." Ivy tried to kick her again, but Babs caught her foot and threw it straight up, sending Ivy off balance and to the ground.

Ivy yelped. "You'll pay for that!" She shouted, as she flipped to her feet.

Babs leap frogged over Ivy and lifted a batarang from her belt, flinging it at the large pod that looked like the thinking center for Ivy's new creation and slicing it off, releasing green sap as the pod rolled down the bridge and stopped at the bridge's guardrail.

Ivy screamed and attacked in a blind rage. Babs grabbed Ivy's arms, rolled backwards, pulled Ivy with her, and kicked her in the stomach, sending her at the dying, floundering plant, tentacles splaying in every which way. Babs smiled in triumph, turning around, wholly prepared to take on anything that Harley could possibly-

_WHAM!_

A huge hammer with cloth on either end of the mallet portion made contact with the side of Babs' face as she turned around, sending Babs spiraling to the street, tasting blood.

"Take that!" Harley shouted, holding the heavy mallet at her feet at an angle.

"Right," Babs stood up, wiping her mouth with the back of her yellow glove. She threw her body weight into a right hook at Harley's face, but Harley dodged it, flipping backwards in acrobatic cartwheels.

"Would ya look at that, Ivy? Kid's got spunk!"

"Sure does," Ivy said, rubbing her stomach as she gingerly stroked the quickly disintegrating plant.

They both charged her simultaneously from both sides. Babs ducked, as the two kicked upwards right at Babs' chin, sending her head backwards into the ground. More blood in the mouth. These two were well-coordinated. Team u o, this wasn't nearly improved enough from both sides.

"Alright!" Harley shouted in triumph.

Babs wiped the blood from her lips again. She double hand sprung into the fray. Ivy punched as Harley kicked. Babs ducked the punch and shifted her weight around to dodge Harley's kick, using her ability to multitask to her advantage. She flipped onto her hands and jumped off them vertically, spinning her legs around and knocking the two in opposite directions and to the ground.

Harley flipped to her feet while Ivy recovered, leaving Babs to fight her one on one. Harley cartwheeled to Babs and landed next to her. Fists flew as Babs matched Harley's speed. After a few second, Babs saw a small break in Harley's defense and gave Harley a quick uppercut to the jaw. Harley flew comically up into the air and landed on the ground, unconscious. Babs turned around to face Ivy, who, during the few seconds had recovered enough to sneak up on Babs, punched Babs across the face, sending her hard to her left and off balance. Babs restabilized herself by thrusting out her right leg, catching Ivy in the stomach as she. Ivy grabbed her leg and flipped her over so that Babs landed on the ground, moaning. She tried to stand up, but Ivy prepared to kick her in the face.

"No, no, no," Ivy smiled. "Don't get up."

Babs dropped back to the ground, rolled and grabbed Ivy's foot with both hands. She twisted quickly and spun Ivy to the ground.

"I wasn't aware I needed your permission," she said as she kicked Ivy again, this time in the head, knocking her out.

She breathed heavily as she moved to the overturned purple car and popped open the trunk. An assortment of hats and head decorations popped out. Why would the Joker want hats?

Babs hopped on her bike and rocketed off towards Arkham with this new information as the police pulled up.

_Why the Joker could possibly want a huge trunk full of hats from the mall. Now she had to fight the Joker. Harley wanted to take the hats to Arkham for the Joker. Why would-_

Then a thought occurred to her.

_What if the Joker didn't want the hats? What if someone manipulated those two as he or she undoubtedly manipulated The Riddler, The Scarecrow, Catwoman, Two Face and Psimon? So who would want-_

She smiled. Wasn't the Mad Hatter in Arkham?


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Yeah... For the last time (seriously, last chapter of this story) I don't own any of these characters and, hand to God, I don't make any money off it... And... yeah... You know the rest. Thanks for reading!

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**Chapter 9  
Mad Hattery**

Babs raced down the aisles of Arkham cells. She turned down one aisle, and then down the second one after that, skidding to a halt in front of the sheet glass of a cell half way down the hall built for those Batman had put away.

There lied the Mad Hatter on his bed, facing away from the glass, his right foot on his left knee, moving it to the tune he hummed, completely oblivious to everything else in the world.

"What's going on?" Babs demanded from the other side of the glass.

"Why, whatever do you mean, my dear Batgirl?" He asked, foot sill bouncing idly.

"I just took out both Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, who were trying to escape from police having stolen something from Gotham mall. Harley said they were working for the Joker, but I don't believe that. Ivy wants Harley rid of that psychopath; she would never have worked for him."

"So why are you here?" The Hatter asked, still not moving from his sleeping position.

"You'll never guess what Harley and Ivy stole from the mall," Babs said, trying to draw the Hatter out.

"You're right, my dear. I'll never guess."

"Hats," Babs said matter-of-factly.

The Hatter, unnerved, chanced a glance up over his pillow at her before turning back and acting as though everything was perfect. "Have I done something wrong? I've been faithfully sitting in my cell here for several months, patiently awaiting my parole. I'm hoping I might get some time off for good behavior." He breathed heavily on his knuckles and used them to polish his chest.

"Then why are you wearing your hat?" Babs asked smugly.

"It's part of the costume, little . Arkham doctors don't care how I look, as long as I bear the appearance of to making progress. Any other bat-brained ideas?"

"Last time I checked," Babs replied. "That was true for parts of your costume that don't have weapons. Your costume, however, puts the power in the hat."

He shrugged as he stood up from his bed. "Then I guess, my dear Alice, you have discovered me, but as you might've noticed, you've no where to take me. I'm already here, and in this place where I can get that… reform that you think I might need."

"That's ok, Hatter. I'll just take your hat and be done with it."

"By all means," he withdrew a small remote control from his coat pocket and pressed a button, turning the red light over his cell from red to green. He strolled over, pushed open the door stepped out, took off his hat, and bowed low. "You have bested me in our battle of wits. How could I compete with such logic?" He held out his hands in surrender. "I yield to you, my worthy opponent."

"How did you do it?" Babs asked, not taking the hat. "And how are Two Face and Psimon involved? I know they are, and you can't deny it."

"Isn't that two questions?" The Hatter teased. "Regardless, I hypnotized Two Face to steal a bag of commemorative coins and had him return them here. When he returned, I made sure to have him go into his cell like nothing happened, remembering nothing."

"Coins? Is that the best you could do?" she scoffed.

He gave her a look. "_Lewis Carroll_ commemorative coins. Very valuable and very pretty. Psimon, I sent after the Titans because I wanted Robin disposed of. I was convinced he was onto me, and I planned to dispose of him through a tragic accident with the Fearsome Five, and because it is well known the group lacked cohesion I took control of Psimon and used him to mentally coerce the team. When you showed up later that week, however, I feared that I was after the wrong person, and proved myself correct in this respect. You however, did manage, somehow to wind up with the Titans on the day they fought the Five."

"But how did you get to Psimon?"

"Quite simple. I offered him hat for his birthday to cover up that ghastly brain of his. When he put it on, I managed to hypnotize him to do one thing: Take down the Titans by any means necessary. Now, I believe I was humming a tune." He took off his hat, twirled it idly right into Babs' hands, smiled nobly and strode back into his cell. "My goodness! I almost forgot!" He hit his head and turned around, tapping a few buttons on his remote control again. _How did she not remember to take his remote control?!_ "We haven't completed our tea party my dear lady Alice! The March Hare hasn't yet arrived!"

Babs spun around, red hair obscuring her view for a second as the red light above the door next to The Hatter's cell turned green, unlocking the cell. The cell's occupant stepped out, clunking large metal feet on Arkham's hard, concrete floor. A shiver went down Babs' spine.

There, in full metal containment suit, glass jarred head, and ray gun in hand stood Mr. Freeze. "You killed Nora?" He demanded, cold blue face fuming.

"Wait," Babs stammered as the Hatter crept up behind her. "I don't know what you're talking about. I never touched your wife."

"Ah, ah, ah" The Mad Hatter tutted, grabbing his precious hat out of Babs's hands and placing it on his head. "Wouldn't want to disturb our dear Mr. Hare, would you? He isn't the warmest of characters," he laughed maniacally. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm late. I'm late, for a very important date." He bolted down the corridor and around the corner.

She needed to stop him, but Freeze took priority for the moment. "Freeze! Stop! You don't know what you're doing!"

Freeze pointed the gun at her. "Don't lie to me. I watched her die and you did it. You must pay for her death." He fired the freeze ray at her.

She tucked and rolled to the left, his gun following her trail across the walls as she jumped up from her roll and sprinted down the corridor towards the end. _There had to be a way to take him out. How could she do it though? She needed to get the drop on him._ A wall of ice shot up at the end of the corridor, closing it off. Babs skidded to a stop, catching herself as she fell from the quick slide and loss of momentum. With nowhere to go, she ran towards him, zigzagging and ducking her way out of the path of his blast, pulling several batarangs from her belt and throwing them at his helmet, attempting to puncture the glass so that she might heat up his body enough to disorient him, long enough for her to push him back into his cell.

To her dismay, the batarangs merely bounced off of his reinforced glass casing. He continued firing at her, more agitated that she would try such an attempt. She sprinted along the nearest wall and threw four more batarangs before cartwheeling off of the wall. The first three knocked off his helmet ineffectually as the other two did. The fourth, however, flew off trajectory and cut the line connecting the freeze gun to the coolant tank on his back, slicing it so that it vented steam and coolant from the tank onto the floor, turning that section of the floor into a thick patch of ice, and stopping the gun functionality. Disgusted, Mr. Freeze threw it aside and charged her fist raised. She ducked, grabbed his arm and flipped him over her, putting all of her weight into the throw, using her feet as leverage as she kicked him in the stomach and rolled backwards, still trying to figure out how to shut him down.

He flipped over, landing partially on his head, cracking his helmet slightly. She smiled, an idea suddenly coming to her. As he stood, she leapt forward and landed on the top of his helmet, pushing off as hard as she could when she had the footing and slamming his helmet into the ground, splintering it and cracking the helmet, spider webbing the glass. Air hissed out of his helmet, creating fog that obscured his vision inside of the helmet.

Freeze stumbled around blindly for several seconds as Babs waited for him to stagger in front of his cell. The second his made a pause in front of his cell, she charged him and pushed him inside, slamming the door and turning the light above it red.

Babs sprinted to the end of the corridor where Freeze ha placed the barrier of ice, pulling a hypersonic ice pick from her belt and ramming it into the ice. She stood back and covered her face from the blast as the pick sent inaudible sound waves through the ice, shattering the ice wall into a million pieces. The hatter had a good forty-five second head start on her, but she sprinted down the corridor as fast as she could run. As she reached the main entrance hall, she stopped watching as the Hatter hopped into one of the Police cars parked in front and peeled out of the driveway, cutting down the long zigzagging path to the main street. She tried to sprint after him, several guards, all under The Hatter's thrall, batons out, stood between the door.

She threw a smoke bomb from her belt, covered her face with her cape, and sped through the guards, their coughing attack dropping them all to the ground, unconscious, down the Asylum's steps, and onto her bike, hopping on and slamming down the ignition, and rocketing out after the Hatter. Following the distant red lights of the Hatter's police cars, she revved the engine harder and began to gain distance on him, speeding after him down the Gotham Bridge, weaving in and out of traffic, not cutting her speed in her mad chase after the Hatter.

As he cut his speed rounding the corner of Cameron, she cut a diagonal towards the end of the bridge and caught up with him just enough to jump off of her bike and onto the back of the Hatter's car, leaving her bike skidding behind the car, shooting sparks as it slid to a stop and down the street in its original direction, stopping as it crashed into the stars of an apartment building. She punched through the driver's window and punched the Hatter as hard as she could in the face. Dazed and confused, his head lolled forward as he slipped into unconsciousness. Steering the car quickly to one side and then the other, she jumped off as the quick turn forced the car to lose control and onto two wheels. She fumbled for her grappling gun, shot it at a lamppost, and jumped as it pulled taut, the car beneath her flipping onto its side and rolling several times landing, totaled, on its hood a hundred feet away.

Jumping off the lamppost, she ran towards the car as The Mad Hatter crawled desperately out of the window, finally looking up at Babs standing over him, a thin line of blood dripping down his face.

He clawed desperately at her feet. "No more! No more! I yield!" He cried.

She pulled the hat off of his thin, straw colored hair and crushed it under her heel. "Didn't you yield to me before?" She asked ly.

"Yes but-"

She kicked him in the face, knocking him unconscious again as the police rounded the corner.

"You did good," Batman said her as he drove her back to the cave. "You discovered it was Jervis Tetch all by yourself and foiled every scheme he attempted. True, you wrecked public property throughout Gotham and at least two of my bikes the bikes in the process, but that comes with the territory."

"Thanks," she said, still smiling from her victory. She tried to think of something else to say, but thought of nothing. His praise helped fuel both her ego and sense of accomplishment. With nothing else to say, she brought up Pixie Boots. "How's Dick?"

"Fine," Batman stated. "The Scarecrow's toxin was similar to one he had used before. I managed to modify one from my stocks and treat him. Alfred has him bedridden at the mansion."

"Can I see him?" she asked as the Batmobile screeched to a halt in the Batcave.

"Of course."

"Thanks, Bruce," she said, calling him by his real name, careful to over enunciate it so that it rang in his ear. Now that she said the name, she found she liked it a little better than Batman. Their latest Batmobile ride had somehow humanized him more. But perhaps it wasn't just that. Maybe she felt like more on his level.

She hopped out of the car and ran up the winding staircase that led into the manor nearly bumping into Alfred in her rush.

"Congratulations, Miss Gordon," he bowed his head slightly. "Master Bruce said that you did some excellent work tonight."

"It was nothing," she blushed slightly. "Where's Dick?"

"Master Grayson is in his room on the second floor. He was resting just a few minutes ago when I went up to check on him."

"Thanks Alfred," she kissed him lightly on the cheek. "You're the best."

"Thank you, Miss Gordon," he replied, bowing.

She ran up the stairs and burst into Dick's room only to see him lying in bed, watching the large TV in his room. He turned it off as she entered.

"Hello, hero," he smiled, impressed as she entered the room and shut the door.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," she averted her gaze and blushed.

"Not according to Bruce. He said you did really well, and I agree with him."

"Really?" she asked, putting her hands behind her back and stepping flirtatiously to his bed, one large step at a time.

"Would I lie to you?" he asked back, smiling.

"Not unless you count every time you kissed me."

"I never lied about that! I distinctly remember-"

"Shut-up, Dick," she said, crawling onto his bed, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him in close, kissing him passionately.

They stayed there for a long time, lips locked in their kiss. Babs smiling as they pulled away, a nice shiver shooting down her spine.

"Wow," Dick whispered, his eyes closed even after their kiss.

"See what can happen when you don't take me completely by surprise?" she asked him, pulling him in for another one, kissing him again.

Dick pulled away from it. "Last time I do that," he said, his lips brushing against hers sensually, pleasurably.

"It's your fault," she smiled as she went in for another kiss, contended for the first time since becoming Batgirl.


End file.
